A case of coincidence
by K.C.Dragonfly
Summary: "Where some people see coincidence, I see conspiracy. That's my job." - Anthony Horowitz, Point Blank


**Hi all, this is just a little oneshot that's been bugging me for a while. It's not my best work but I hope you enjoy it :)**

**x x x x**

"What did you say to me?" Nick challenged, a wounded look crossing his face as he pressed a hand to his chest.

"You heard me!" Brian smarmed back, smirking gleefully. "I'm - gonna - kick - your - ass."

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. You're gonna kiss my what?"

"You're pretty confident, cowboy," the day shift CSI hummed, walking circles around him. "Let's see how cocky you are when you're ducking for cover on the pitch."

"Take it easy children." Warrick breathed, flicking lazily through a magazine at the centre bench. "Save it for the game."

"Yeah, you're right." Nick grinned, playfully punching his colleague in the shoulder. "You ought to save your energy – you're going to need it!"

Having taken as many of the Texan's cliche jibes as he could stand, and since it was long after the end of his shift, Brian threw a final mocking joke over his shoulder and left the Grave Shift boys to their slow night and lukewarm coffee.

"Smart-ass little git." Nick laughed, shaking his head as he joined Warrick at the counter.

"Yeah, and you're as sweet as pie." Rick commented sarcastically, tossing the magazine aside and turning to his mate. "Anyway, I don't know what you're getting your knickers in a twist for. We're still the best CSI team in softball. It's the cops you should be worried about."

"I'm not worried." Nick contradicted defensively. "Anyway, we've got a secret weapon on our side."

As he spoke, soft footsteps approached down the hall and stopped in the threshold.

"Hey guys." A chirpy voice greeted.

"Hey, speak of the … what the hell?" Nick cut himself off, his dark eyes bugging out of his head.

"What happened to you?" Warrick spluttered, almost choking on his coffee.

Sara winced, offering a coy smile.

"So, it's noticeable then?" She asked sheepishly.

The boys landed on either side of her, taking in the sling around her left arm and the deep purple bruise adorning her left eye.

"What the hell happened, Sara?" Warrick repeated firmly, reaching out a hand to gently cup her cheek.

"It's okay, I'm fine." She assured him with a meek shrug. "It was just an accident."

"Must have been one hell of an accident." Nick commented, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. "Did someone hit you?"

"No, no." She shook her head resolutely, stepping out from their protective cocoon around her and putting most of the room between herself and them as she attempted to brush off her injuries. "I was trying to multi-task and tripped on the stairs to my apartment."

"Jesus girl." Warrick shook his head, emitting an empathic wince.

"I'll be fine." She insisted calmly. "Until Grissom sees me. Then I might need some help." She flashed them a hopeful smile. There was every chance the boss would take one look at her and send her home, and if that was the case then she would need their support to stay.

The boys shared a small chuckle at her predicament, knowing how much it would piss the brunette off to be forbidden from working. However, their amusement was promptly interrupted by the inelegant arrival of one Catherine Willows.

"Damn, woman!" Warrick jumped as she stumbled into the doorframe and practically limped her way to the couch before sinking ungracefully into the cushions. "What did _you_ do?"

"Nothing, nothing." She waved a dismissive hand, grimacing in pain. "Idiot woman crashed into me at a traffic light."

"Hell." Nick sighed, running a hand through his short hair. "Are you two on a suicide mission or something?"

Catherine glanced up, giving Sara a brief once-over.

"Sara." She nodded curtly. "You look like hell."

"Right back at you." Sara smiled tightly, raising her coffee cup towards the blonde before taking a mouthful.

"Grissom's going to flip when he sees the pair of you." Warrick warned them, somewhat needlessly since that thought had already crossed both of their minds.

"Evening people." Greg addressed the group brightly, wandering in with a bag of Blue Hawaiian tucked protectively under his arm and making a beeline to the coffee pot. However, he skidded to a halt in the middle of the room, taking in Sara's appearance with bafflement.

"What happened to you?" He squeaked, tossing the coffee aside and walking around the woman in a circle, taking in her injuries.

"Minor accident, nothing to worry about." She disregarded the comment, moving over to perch on the arm of the couch. The spiky-haired young man followed her, waving his hands frantically.

"But … but … you're our star hitter!" He pointed out. "You were our secret weapon!"

"I can still bat." She assured him with a lazy grin. "Relax; Days won't know what's hit them."

The boys shared an uneasy look, but before anyone could voice the multitude of concerns flooding the room, Grissom wandered in with a stack of papers balanced precariously on his arm.

"Alright, three cases so we're pairing up tonight." He announced bluntly.

In an attempt to disguise her injury, Catherine tried to launch herself to her feet in one swift movement, but a shot of pain ran through her back and she had to balance herself on Sara's shoulder and Warrick's arm simultaneously to avoid falling over.

Grissom looked up at the kerfuffle and quirked an eyebrow curiously at her pained expression.

"Are you alright?" He questioned.

"I'm fine." She brushed it off. "I was in a minor car accident. I'll be fine."

He blinked in shock at the response, briefly catching sight of Sara in the process. She was attempting to use Greg's body to shield her left hand side but it was an effort in vain.

"Were you in the car as well?" He asked, taking a step closer to better see her.

"Uh, no." She shook her head, exchanging a quick look with Catherine. "No, I fell down the stairs at my flat. I'll be okay – I can still take notes!" The pleading look in her eyes drew stifled laughter from the guys and a hurried agreement from Cath.

Gil looked between the two women in disbelief for a few seconds before shaking his head in bemusement.

"Alright, well Warrick you take the first invalid and Nick you take the second." He pointed to Catherine and Sara respectively. "Greg you can come with me."

"How come you don't trust _me_ with them?" The young man pouted sadly.

"We'll keep an eye on them." Warrick assured the boss, gripping Catherine's arm tightly as he guided her carefully towards the door.

Nick nudged Sara teasingly and snatched the report from her good hand.

"I'm driving."

X x x

"I hope you got the details." Warrick scowled, snapping a photo of a condom wrapper and stooping to collect it.

"I did." She nodded, freezing momentarily when she felt her neck emit a painful click. "The insurance company's dealing with it. It'll be sorted out in no time."

"Good. Reckless drivers." He tutted. "I mean, imagine if you had Lindsey in the back – you didn't did you?"

"No, no it was just me." She assured him. "Can … can we not talk about it?"

"Sure." He frowned. "But you're alright, right?" He checked, taking a step closer. "I mean, there's nothing else to be worried about, it's just your back?"

"Everything's fine." She assured him. "It's just made me a little jumpy, I guess."

Warrick stared at her for a long moment before accepting her explanation with a short nod and going back to his work.

Firing up the black-light, he pointed it at the mass of sheets on the floor and shook his head in loss.

"They had a perfectly good bed two feet away. Why have sex on the floor?" He asked rhetorically.

Biting back a smile, Catherine shrugged.

"I can think of a few reasons." She answered enigmatically.

X x x

"What were you trying to do on the stairs anyway?" Nick inquired.

"Huh?" Sara quirked an eyebrow, glancing up from the notes she was scribbling.

"You said you were multi-tasking." Nick pointed out. "What were you doing?"

"I was carrying some bags and trying to find my keys, I just tripped." She shrugged, turning away to disguise the blush creeping up her cheeks.

"I thought women were supposed to be good at multi-tasking." He mumbled, drawing a laugh from her.

"I never was one for stereotypes." She retorted coolly.

The Texan watched her from across the room, narrowing his eyes. He'd expected her to have gotten frustrated with her restrictions and tried to help in evidence collection by now, but she was unusually placid about the whole thing.

"You okay?" He asked at last. "You've been very quiet."

She flashed him a smile across the room.

"I'm fine. Never better."

"Alright." He accepted at last. "Hey, in future try to be more careful yeah? I know you like to think you're invincible but you can get hurt doing pretty much anything."

She smiled to herself, offering a small nod to placate her concerned friend.

"Duly noted." She murmured to herself.

X x x

"Hey, can I ask you something." Nick cocked his head to the side as he reached across the table for the cream. "Don't you think it's a little coincidental that Cath and Sara both had an accident on the same day?"

"You know," Warrick hummed, chewing thoughtfully on his toast. "I had the same thought earlier. And Cath really didn't seem to want to talk about it."

"Yeah, Sara was pretty blunt about it too." Nick agreed. "It all just seems very convenient."

"Maybe they had a fight." Brass offered, topping up his coffee and taking a long sip before releasing a contented sigh. "God knows, they've come close enough to knocking six bells out of each other before." He continued.

"Or," Greg grinned, sliding into the booth with a second helping of breakfast. "Maybe they were getting frisky and things got too physical." He wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

"Yeah, right." Nick scoffed, stealing a strip of bacon off his plate. "Keep dreaming, Greggo."

"I don't know that they're lying." Warrick continued thoughtfully, more to himself than the rest of the group. "I just don't think they're telling us everything. I mean, they didn't exactly seem surprised by each other's injuries did they?"

"Maybe you're not far off with that fight theory." Nick nodded at Jim. "That would explain a few things."

"What's wrong with my theory?" Greg queried.

Warrick snorted and the men answered in unison.

"Everything."

X x x

"Do you think the boys suspected?"

"Yes." Sara took a bite of her apple and munched it contemplatively. "But I bet they'll never figure out what really happened."

Catherine grinned, moving to perch carefully on her lap.

"Greg might." She pointed out, tenderly caressing the younger woman's bruised eye with the pad of her thumb.

"Yeah, in his dreams." Sara snorted, wrapping her right arm around Catherine's waist to hold her in place.

"Well, Miss Sidle, maybe next time you'll slow down a little."

"Me?" Sara repeated, affronted. "I don't recall you taking things _slow_."

"Well can you blame me for being eager?" Cath teased, pressing her nose to Sara's in a sweet Eskimo kiss. "Maybe we should invest in some railings for the bed so this can't happen again?"

"Or we could have sex on the floor in future, that way we can't fall off anything." Sara countered playfully. Catherine laughed.

"Try explaining that theory to Warrick."

Sara frowned, not understanding the reference; but she quickly disregarded the comment when Catherine winced as she felt her back twinge again.

"Either way, we should probably give it a few days before we try again, huh?" She asked, rubbing gentle circles on her girlfriend's back to soothe the pain.

Cath raised an eyebrow at her, a devious smile spreading across her lips.

"Yeah, right." She scoffed, leaning in to steal a definitive kiss.


End file.
